Automobile-handling device for garages and the like



C. J. WARREN.

AUTONOBILE HANDLING DEVICE FOR GARAG ES AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. I9, 1919.

Patented Oct. 4-, 1921.

3 SHEETS-"SHEET l,

C. l. WARHEN,

AUTOMOBELE HANDLING MWHJE FUP. UARAGES AND THE HriL'.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. S" .fil'l 121mm Oct. 4, 1921.

jfivenior MW C. J. WARREN.

AUTOMOBILE HANDLING DEVICE FOR GARAGES THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19. 19

1,392,610. 7 Patented Oct. 4, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 En J.

srarss CLINTON J. "WARREN, OF 'WIl TCI-ZESTER,

MASSikCHLTSEETFE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. at, 1321.

Application filed February 19, 1919. Serial No. 278,094.

' tain new and useful Improvements in Automobile-l-landling Devices for Garages and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in automobile handling devices for garages and the like. More particularly it relates to means for getting automobiles quickly and conveniently to and from the upper floors of a building. Hitherto it has been a serious problem, unsolved so far as I am aware, to make the successive stories of a building sufliciently accessible to be available for use by any considerable number of patrons. This is especially true of parking garages, located in the center of the city, where a large number of cars arrive close to a certain hour, or. desire to depart at about the same time, and are impatient of delay, as before and after business hours, or the theater. Partly for this reason garages have often been limited to two stories in height, notwithstanding the high cost of real estate, in the section where they are located, and Where other buildings are higher. The objects of the present invention are attained by providing a re-curved inclined way,returning upon itself from floor to floor, so that at each floor there is a portal which autos bound for a higher floor may pass without danger to or delay'by any car on that floor, and where there is such a unification of the diverse grades of the inclined curve and of the level floor that any car may conveniently issue frolnor enter the incline at any floor. The grade as a whole is such that cars can proceed up under their own power. The downward way, which may be separate from the upward way, and may be surrounded by it, may have a steeper grade. The wayma'y have the general aspect of a vertical helix, broken in continuity at each fioor, however, by the interjection of a levelsection into its course at the elevation of the floor and communicating therewith. Or, if the helix be unbroken, thc'level of the floor may be broken, for unification of fioor with helix. Or, each of these methods maybe employed in part, for making connection between it and the floor. An advantage of the invention is that as the incline can beset in any part of the buildii'ig, it permits the utilization of a city lot of irregular shape having a portion not well adapted for parking of cars. When applied in a rectangulanshaped area, it can be put in the center thereof, furnishing walls against which berths for vehicles can be arranged. The invention may be applied 'in various ways, certain illustrative embodiments of it being shown in the accompanying drawings. It is in tended that the patent shall covcnby suitable cxpression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a plan showing an upper floor of a garage with the apparatus of the invention in the midst of it;

Fig. 2 is an elevation, as if in vertical section through the building on the line 2--2- or Fig.6, but with the building and ways somewhat modified in form as compared with the showing of Fig. 1 and somewhat diagrammatic;

Fig. is a plan of amodiiication ofthe device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig.4 is an elevation in section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, in diagram;

Fig. 5 is a diagram or" another modification, in elevation, showing relations of grade of floor at a connection between the" way and a floor; and

Fig. 6 is a plan showing by diagram the device installedon an irregularly-shaped city lot.

in the drawings, and referring now particularly to Fig. 'l, 10 indicates the walls and 11 indicates any one of the upper floors of a building having street entrances to the first floor at 12, on the level of which entrances the sidewalk 13 is shown. In the center of this figure, one embodiment of the invention consisting of a pair of inclined ways, 14, 15, is seen, each re-curved or turning back upon itself near to its, point of beginning. As illustrated, these are circu lar, each occupying about two-thirds of a circle, and one of them surrounds the other. From any 'given floor one incline runs down and the other up; while the space 16 sur-.

'- cept that the vertical scale is four times the horizontal: In this modification, it is assumed that the re-curved way sections are helical, with an outside diameter of about seventy feet, and that the way itself is by down going cars.

twenty feet wide, thus allowing two ten foot halves for use respectively by up and In such a case, the outer edge may be assumed to rise twelve from floor to floor in about two hundred and Twenty feet, and if the curve were a helix rise of about 1.2 feet would occur in the twenty-two feet which may be asas the width of portal or opening in its wall, allowed for communication with floor, being one-tenth of the entire cir- (in iference. The regularity of the helix may be varied so that one-half or 7 .2 inches of this fractional rise assigned to the portal is distributed over the remaining nine-tenths of the circumference, where it would not be a burdensome addition, and the rise at the portal is thus reduced to 7 ,2 inches. Of

i this 7.52 inches, one-half may be absorbed in the central zone, b, of the portal by making 12 feet of the iioor there slope at an incline agreeing with that of the outside line of the past the portal, leaving l8 inches 01' rise to be overcome in the 5 feet at one side and inches at the other side 0 of the portal, making the floor of eachpart, a and 6, horizontal at the level of the end of'the portion 5 which is next to it. This horizontal bit of door at the part a of the portal at the ieft of Fig. 5 would be 1.8 inchesbelow the general fioor level, and the part. at 0, would be 1.8 inches above the general floor level. Two feet from each jamb of the portai, for no car wheel would approach closer, there would be a difference of level of only about 1.1 inches, which is negligible. The slopes of 1.8 inches from main floor at'the left to the depression a, and the same at the ire-ht up to the elevation c are also negligible and easily arranged at a and 0 respectively. As these variations of level are so slight as to be not objectionable to a highway vehicle, the general result is attained, of a portal of ample Width affording free connection at reasonable speed between the inclined way and the floor, neither floor nor incline departing sensibly from continuity of grade, so that the full width of the portal may be used by cars moving in either direction.

Fig. '6 illustrates how the invention may be applied in a building of peculiar shape,

which may be made to cover the whole of a lot of peculiar shape, it being only necessary to have a way leading from and to the entrance.

Ii Wiil be o se ved that in allot t e forms illustrated the j unctures or connections made with a floor by the approaching and the departing inclines of a series are grouped together. Cars passing up or down on that series therefore have no considerable travel on the floor, as in the case shown in Fig. 1, or at the level of the floor, as in Fig. 3, where they do not come upon the floor at all. This grouping together of junctures is so arranged as to allow a car either to con tinue on the series or to run to a berth on the floor; and those cars which are passing the floor to higher or lower stories do not interfere with the-maximum freedom of use of berths on the floor at large, except of such few berths as may be located where the cars travel on the floor a short distance in passing between the junctions of the floor with theapproaching and departing inclines of the up series, or of the down series.

In the appended claims, the word floors or stories is used in its ordinary signification of a definite principal horizontal section covering a considerable area, of a building, and large enough to hold a number of cars simultaneously. Although the kind of,

floor for which the invention will mainly be employed is for storing automobiles it is obvious that the invention may be used for handling automobiles between the ground and floors where they are wanted for other purposes as, for example, for receiving or shipping goods. The words ground story signify whatever floor of the building com municates with the ground, 6., has the automobile entrance and exit for the portion of the building to which the invention applies. From that floor upward the rise is approximatelycontinuous, being interrupted only for the short spaces where a car is between the grouped-together junctures'of the inclines with a floor. Likewise the curvature is approximately continuous. Preferably, and as illustrated, the curvature is on approximately the minimum radius on which automobiles can turn. With the story heights which are common for buildings, say twelve feet, the grade which results in the incline from story to story is suitable for automobiles. This arrangement of curvae ture leaves the main area of the floors outside of the area circumscribed by the course ofcars ascending or descending, as spacious as may be desired, and reached by cars turning outward from the circuit into the storage space on any floor. This gives the required rise in a relatively short course withprising a series oi cooperating inclined ways arranged in succession from floor to floor,

adapted in grade, course and surface for automobiles; to traverse them, the several ways of the series being arranged, in respect to each other and to the several floors, with the inclines of the succession approaching and leaving a floor having their connections with that floor grouped together.

2. A device for the handling of automobiles between the ground and other stories of a building, comprising the'combination, with a building having a plurality of stories other than the ground story, of a way comprising a series of cooperating inclined ways, each adapted in gl'EtLlQ, course and surface for automobiles to traverse it, extending between adjacent floors, and so curved in course as to have its termini at floors in loca- ,tions which cooperate with termini. of other ways of the series for passage of automobiles upon the series to or from a floor, or past that floor Without traversing any considerable part of the floor.

3. A device for the handling of automobiles between the ground and other stories of a. building, compris ig the combination, with a building having a plurality of Stories other than the ground story, of a way comprising a series of cooperating inclined ways, each adapted in grade, course and sur face for automobiles to traverse it, extending between adjacent floors, and so curved in course as to reach each, floor level near to, and in direction running toward, the incline continuing the same series from that level.

l. A device for the handling of automobiles between the ground and other stories oi a building, comprising the combination, 40 with a building having a plurality of stories other than the ground story, of a way comprising a series of coiiperating inclined ways, each adapted in grade, course and surface for automobiles to traverse it, extending be tween adjacent floors, and curved circularly from floor to floor on a radius approximating the minimum on which automobiles ca run.

A device for the handling of automobiles between the ground and other stories of a build ing comprising the combination, with a buildingliaving a plurality of stories other than the ground story, of away comprising a series of inclined ways arranged in vertical order within a section of the building, said section being segmental in horizontal cross section and passing through a plurality of stories including the ground story, said ways being adapted in grade, course and 60 surface to be traversed by automobiles, and 7 being arranged around the are side of the segment, and being connected with the successive floors at the chord side thereof.

6. A device for the handling of automobiles between the ground and other stories of a building comprising the coi'nbination, with a building having a. plurality of stories other than the ground story, of a multiplicity of inclined ways cotiperating together in two series on different radii of curvature to handle the up and the down t allic from. the various floors, the ways of one series he iug for the down bound cars with radius of curvature approximating the minimum around which automobiles can run, with. grade from floor to floor which conseq thereon, according to toe height of the sto and the ways of the other ser' being up bound cars and being arranged clc y around those of the down series with the St grade from floor'to floor which is consequent upon such location.

7. A device for the handling of autonobiles between the ground and other of a building comprising the combination, with. a'building having a plurality of stories other than the ground story, of a way joining the floors, adapted in grade, course and surface for automobiles to trai crse it, curring repeatedly around a vertical axis, a .l arranged with connections to the various floors; the main floor-area served by the way being arranged outside of the area inch d by the way, and said inclosed area lit small relative to said outside area,

S. A device for the handling of dill/OHIO- biles between the ground and other stories of a building comprising the coin with a building haying a. plurality i other than the ground story, of way ing the floors, adapted in grade, o surface for automobiles to trav i, ing repeatedly around vertical :1" arranged with its total rise and total c ture each distributed a 'iproziiniately tinuously along its extent from hottop of the said stories, vith connect-unis the various floors; the area iucloscd course bcii'ig sinall relative the floor served by it outside of .i inclos 9. A dev re for the hand ii'uig; of an biles between the grouiiui at 1 of a building, coinprisin comb with a building having a pull 't other than the ground story, 0*. a w: prising a series of coilperating inclii arranged in succession from floor to ham, adapted in grale, course and surfs cc for automobiles to traverse them, the several ways of the series being arranged, in resnect to each other and to the several floors, with the inclines of the succession which approach and leave a floor having their connections with that floor grouped together; the said series of ways being a ranged "Witl'l course of cars traveling through the circumscribing a vertical section extcn through s i stories, and there being in s stories other space adapted to be e and occupied by automobiles outside a eircumscribing car course; and a connection of th car course to said other space at each story,

f\ Ur biles A device for the handling of automohetween the ground and other stories building comprising the combination, with a imilding having a plurality of stories other than the ground story, of a way joining the iioors, adapted in grade, course and surface for automobiles to traverse it, curving repeatedly around a vertical axis and arranged ture each distributed approximately continuously along itsextent frombottom to top, and with floor junctions on the outer side of said curvature, where'at cars on the said Way can turn outward from the curve to leave the way; there being space on said iioors connected to the way thereby and adapted to be traversed and occupied by automobiles. V .7

A device for the handling of automobetween the ground and other stories building, comprising the combination, Vh a building having a plurality of stories v other than. the ground story, of a way jointhe tloors, adapted in grade, course and suri repeatedly around a vertical axis and ed with its total rise dlstributed ap- 1 bottom to top of the said stories, inclu ing an up grade past the levels of the various floors, with connections to the various floors in which the level of a floor that is being passedby theincline is interrupted by siightly inclined portions of the fioor, in the locality where the way passes, facilitatingpassage of vehicles between floor and inclined way.

152'. A device for the handling of automobiles between the ground and other stories oi a building, comprising the combination, with building having a plurality of stories between the adjacent.

with its total rise and total curvaaceior automobiles to traverse it, curvb a inateiy continuously along its extentother than the ground story, of a way joining the floors, adapted in grade, course and surface for automobiles to traverse it, curving repeatedly around a'vertical axis and arranged with its course occupying approximately three quadrants of circular measure floors, and one quadrant affording junction with each floor.

13. A device'for the handling of automobilesbetween the ground and other stories of a building, comprising the combination,

with a building havinga plurality of stories other than the ground story, of a way comprising a series of coii 'ierating inclined ways, each adapted in grade, course and surface for automobiles to traverse it, extending between adjacent floors, and so curved in course as to have its termini at floors in locations which cooperate with termini of other ways of the series for passage of automobiles upon the series to or from a floor, or, past that floor without traversing any considerable part of the floor, the direction of the incline varying in accordance with the direction of, the curvature of the course.

14. A device for the handling of automobiles between the ground and other stories of a,building comprising the combination, with a building having a plurality of stories other than the ground, story, of a way joining the floors, adapted in grade, course and surface for automobiles to traverse it, curving repeatedly around a space with its strike varying approximately with the curvature of the course, and arranged with connections to the various floors; the main floor-area served by the way being arranged outside of the area inclosed by the way and said inclosed area being small relative to said outside area.

V Signed at Boston, Massachusetts, this day of February, 1919.

' CLINTON J. witness 

